Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas depart to the sounds of silence
Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas refused to talk to the media after their second rounds, which hardly befitted their stature in the game. But then, neither did their golf, as for just the second time since the rankings were introduced in 1986, the world No 1 and world No 2 missed the cut at the Open.
In fairness, they were not the only members of the big-named exodus departing Angus before one could say “prime beef cut”. Jon Rahm, the fiery young Spaniard, made it three out of the world’s top five who crashed out as he shot a 78 to disgrace his opening 69.
Sergio García was another to succumb to the chop, as were Bubba Watson and England’s Ian Poulter, who with a humiliating 81, slipped to 12 over par. All in all, it was emphatically confirmed that Carnoustie remains utterly disrespectful of reputation.
Johnson’s demise was the most surprising. At the head of the rankings, he came in as favourite and in the practice rounds cut an almost nonchalant figure as he shrugged off the dilemma whether to blast or lay-up by doing what comes spectacularly naturally – blasting.
But in his first-round 76 he hit only nine fairways and although his average driving distance was 366 yards, length is meaningless to the point of being detrimental, when it plonks you repeatedly in the thick or sandy stuff.
Johnson came out on day two with a more cautious, cerebral gameplan, but seeing as this is the man in the build-up who announced, “I don’t think I’m overthinking it,” perhaps the observer should have been ready.
He dialled back on the driver, but also rewound the clock, once more hitting nine of the fairways. There were four bogeys and a double-bogey in his one-over 72 which left him on five over and again it was the last figure recorded which caused the biggest raise of the eyebrows.
This was not Johnson’s first visit to Carnoustie, the 34-year-old played in the 2012 Dunhill Links, but he had never seen it like this before and knows exactly why the 18th hole rings danger in ears not only attached to Jean van de Velde’s cranium. Johnson took a triple-bogey seven on the par four on Thursday – “a Jean” as the locals call it here – and a six to compound the misery yesterday. That is five shots dropped on one hole, albeit an absolute terror of a hole. Otherwise Johnson would be on one over and still in here fighting.
Instead he will be alighting in Florida and wondering what he should do to fix his Claret Jug travails. Since finishing second to Darren Clarke seven years ago, his best effort has been ninth, which is not too shabby but does not begin to encapsulate his talent or his consistency in regular events.
His Open record could be far worse, however – it could be Justin Thomas’s.
The reigning USPGA champion seemed destined to rectify his anomaly at the British major – he arrived having played two Opens with a tie for 59th and a missed cut to his name – when he advanced to two under after five holes.
Yet he calamitously double-bogeyed the next three holes to fall back to four over and although there were back-to-back birdies on the 13th and 14th, there were successive blemishes on the 16th and 17th to ensure his swift passage back to Kentucky.
